If you have problems in playing videos in 3D-Album styles with video input, check the following list to resolve your problem.

1. General

Please upgrade your 3D-album software to version 3.20+, which plays video with a better quality and performance. 3D-Album uses 3D Texture to play video on 3D surfaces, which requires the video to be resampled to the size in the powers of 2 (256, 512, 1024, ect.) The new version has been optimized to take the advantages of today's processor and significantly increased the speed and quality of the real-time resampling.

If you has an old computer (e.g. Pentium or Pentium-2) without the advanced features of today's processor, you may try to reduce the size of the video or prepare your video in the size of the powers of 2 (for example, 256x256) for real-time play.

2. WMV (Window Media Video)

If you have installed Window's XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Media Player 10 (WMP10) and have freeze problem in playing WMV, please upgrade your 3D-Album to version 3.19.

If your WMV does not play at all, some of the Windows Media component files may be removed by your recent uninstallation of a video player. The unstallation failed to resume the original component that is necessary for playing WMV. You need to reinstall Windows Media Format. Please download the installation file at the following link:

We recommend you use WMV for real-time computer play. It has less compatibity problem in Windows platforms, gives the best performace, and the perfect sync of audio and video.

3. MPEG2

To play MPEG2 movie in 3D-Album, your computer must have a MPEG2 video player installed. The player usually comes with a DVD play software such as WinDVD or PowerDVD, or a video editing software. You also have to upgrade you 3D-Album to version 3.20+.

If 3D-Album crashes when you pick a MPEG2 video to play, chances are you have a MPEG2 decoder that has a version conflict with the current Direct Media version. For example, you installed a WinDVD when you had Windows Media 7, later, you upgraded Windows Media to Windows Media 9. This may cause a problem. To resolve this, you need either upgrade your WinDVD or set the default MPEG2 decoder to a different one. See descriptions below for how to choose a deault MPEG2 decoder with a utility from Microsoft.

If you see a flying box during MPEG2 video play, you have the evaluation copy of the Elecard/Moonlights MPEG-2 decoder installed in your computer. It is installed with many different pieces of free software. It is a good idea to never install a free video player with a brand that you do not know. To fix this, you must un-register mpgdec.ax. To do this, we recommend you download a utility from Microsoft if you use Windows XP:

This utility will list all MPEG2 decoders installed in your computer. Run the utility, set the default MPEG2 decoder to a different one other than the mpgdec.ax. If you have any software that must use mpgdec.ax, for example, DVD X Copy, you may temporarily resume mpgdec.ax to the default using this utility (Note, 321 Studio, the maker of DVD X Copy is gone with a lawsuit from MPAA, you should realy not use this software anymore.)

If you do not use XP, first search your system for the file mpgdec.ax, then goto Start>Run. Type ??regsvr32.exe /u C:\<Location of the file>\mpgdec.ax?? -Then hit Enter. This should say it succeeded. If not, check you path see if it is correct. You can run ??regsvr32.exe C:\<Location of the file>\mpgdec.ax?? to resume mpgdec.ax later if you need it.

We do not recommend Elecard/Moonlights MPEG-2 decoder based on its performance.

If you have a video/audio out of sync problem during playing a MPEG2, you realy need a good MPEG2 decoder that is optimized for editing. 3D-Album playes video in a different way than other video player which directly uses the 2D surface. 3D-Album must do some extra work to convert the 2D images into 3D surfaces. And the decoder must allow the application to get a video frame exactly based on a given time. Usually, a MPEG2 decoder coming with your video editor software is a good choice.

The video/audio out of sync problem only happens during computer play when the computer cannot catch up with the real-time. This should not be a problem during video capture (to convert presentation into a video.)

4. AVI

AVI can uses many different video decoders. Make sure that you computer has the video decoder installed for a particular AVI.

If your AVI does not play at all even for the very basic ones (e.g. MPEG4 decoders), some of the Windows Media component files may be removed by your recent uninstallation of a video player. See the WMV section for solution.

Please note, 3D-album does not play AVIs with decoders that use 16-bit colors. A commonly used 16-bit color decoder in old times is Microsoft Video 1. Do not choose Microsoft Video 1 when you generate AVIs.

Playing an uncompressed AVI may cause disk IO data jam, especially when the disk capcity is extreamly large and has been used for a long period without defragment. Defragmenting your hard drive will reorganize all borken small pieces, making it easier for your computer to find data quickly. However, this cannot guarantee that you can then play the the AVI smoothly because an uncompressed AVI requires a extreamly large data transfer volume. We do not recomend to use uncompressed AVI for real-time computer play. When use AVI, try MPEG4 encoded AVI. However, if you eventually want to convert your presentation to a video, using an uncompressed AVI is fine.

5. MPEG

If your MPEG does not play at all, some of the Windows Media component files may be removed by your recent uninstallation of a video player. See the WMV section for solution.